Invented by Bob Gillingham, a Washington-state native who spent eighteen years living abroad in Scotland and New Zealand, Gillingham first got the idea for the Down Under Plant Stand in 1992 when he was the owner of a carpet cleaning business in New Zealand. "Time and time again I'd see beautiful rugs and hardwood floors damaged by potted plants that had been sitting directly on a floor surface," explains Gillingham. "I couldn't understand why there wasn't something that lifted potted plants just enough to protect the floors beneath them. So I invented one!"